Cooling cabinet



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United States Patent- O COOLING CABINET Frank R. Trulaske, Grafton, Ill., assgnor to True Manufacturing Co., St. Louis, Mo., a rm or cnparzership Application February 28, 1955, Serial No. 491,034

1 Claim. (Cl. 62-116) This invention relates to improvements in a cooling cabinet adapted to retain articles such as beverage bottles, and ice trays, and more particularly to improvements in a cabinet of this type which realize a tank structure which may be economically and easily manufactured and assembled, and which permit ready access to all parts of the cooling chamber.

It is and has been the prevalent and conventional practice to place the compressor enclosure at one end of the cabinet, the enclosure extending depthwise from the front to the rear. This structural arrangement of the compressor enclosure in a cooling cabinet requires that the tank structure be constructed of separate sheets of metal forming the four sides and the step member constituting the enclosure, and requires certain corner regions of some sheets to be cut away to accommodate such a step member. Thus, difficulties and disadvantages are encountered in assembling the tank structure, in the expensive manufactoring and assembly operations, and in the relatively high material costs incurred because of the loss of metal. Since the compressor enclosure is located conventionally at one end of the cabinet, as mentioned above, the lower rear portion of the cabinet is exceedingly difficult to reach, especially for persons of small stature, or having short arms.

Accordingly, it is the major objective of the present invention to locate the step member constituting the compressor enclosure at the lower rear of the cabinet, and to extend the step member for the entire width of the cabinet, so that the region heretofore the farthest away from the cabinet opening is now occupied by the step member, and hence readily accessible by all persons regardless of stature and reach.

Moreover, an important object is realized in that the tank structure defining the cooling chamber of the cabinet may be inexpensively and easily manufactured and assembled with very little loss of metal. The tank structure may be constructed of opposed side walls, and an intermediate piece attached to the side walls, the intermediate piece including the step member being formed of a single sheet of continuous metal.

The foregoing and numerous other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, particularly when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the cooler cabinet;

Fig. 2 is a view in cross section of the cabinet as seen along line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in cross section as seen along line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Referring now by characters of reference to the drawing, the cooler cabinet consists of a housing having opposed, spaced side walls 10, a top wall 11 carried by and between the side walls 10, a rear wall 12 extending down wardly from the rear of top wall 11, a step member generally indicated at 13 including a horizontally disposed ledge portion 14 extending forwardly from rear wall 12 Ffaice and a vertical portion 15 extending downwardly from ledge portion 14, a bottom wall 16 extending forwardly from the vertical portion 15, and a front wall 17 extending upwardly from bottom wall 16. The step member 13 extends the entire width of the cabinet between side walls 10. The top wall 11, rear wall 12, step member 13, bottom wall 16 and front wall 17 are all insulated, as are side walls 16, to realize an efficient cooling chamber that is substantially unaffected by external thermal conditions and changes.

The top wall 10 and front wall 17 are spaced to provide an opening 20 at the upper front portion of the cabinet housing which is utilized for access to the interior of the cooling chamber. This opening 20 extends the entire width of the cabinet between side walls 10. An insulated door 21, constituting a closure element for opening 20, is slidably carried on curvilinear rails 22 provided on side walls 10. The door 21 can be slidably moved rearwardly to open the cabinet, or moved forwardly to the closed position shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Mounted in the cabinet are a plurality of evaporator shelves 23 which are located immediately above and in spaced relation to step member 13. These shelves 23 are disposed horizontally one above the other, and are adapted to hold articles such as ice trays. Refrigeration lines, such as those indicated at 24, operatively interconnect the evaporator shelves 23 to mechanical refrigerating means located in and below the step member 13. The refrigerating means including compressor 25 is operatively connected to the evaporator by lines 24 running through step member 13 and into the interior of the cooling chamber.

It is apparentA that the step member- 13 occupies the entire lower rear portion of the cabinet, the member 13 extending between side walls 10 for the entire width. Thus any articles such as bottles or frosted glasses disposed on ledge portion 14 of step member i3 can be easily reached from the opening 20 by all persons regardless of stature and length of arms.

The tank structure, referred to at 39 in Fig. 2, denes the cooling chamber of the cabinet, and is constructed of sheet metal. The tank structure 30 includes spaced side portions 31 (Fig. 3) forming the inside surface of side walls 10, and an intermediate member formed of a continuous single piece of sheet metal having its lateral margins secured to side portions 31. This intermediate member includes a horizontal top portion 32 extending rearwardly to a vertical rear portion 33, the rear portion 33 extending downwardly to a step portion 34. The step portion 34 of the tank structure consists of a horizontal ledge 35 extending forwardly to a vertical portion 36 that extends downwardly to a bottom portion 37. A front portion 38 extends upwardly from bottom portion 37. The intermediate member including step portion 34 extends the entire width between side portions 31. A drain conduit 40 is located through wall portion 15, and is utilized to drain condensate out of the cooling chamber.

Thus it is seen that the particular location and structural arrangement of step member 13, constituting an enclosure for the refrigerating means including compressor 25, renders the entire lower rear portion of the cabinet readily accessible through upper front opening 2i), and permits the tank structure to be easily and inexpensively constructed and assembled.

Although the invention has been described by making detailed reference to a single preferred embodiment, such detail is to be understood in an instructive, rather than in any restrictive sense, many variants being possible within the scope of the claim hereunto appended.

I claim as my invention:

A cooler cabinet comprising an insulated housing including opposed spaced side walls, a top wall carried by said side Walls, a rear wall extending downwardly from the rear of said top wall, a'step member located at the lower rear of said housing, the step member having .a

horizontal ledge portion extending forwardly from the.

rear wall, and a vertical wall Vportion extending downwardly, the step member extending the entire width of said housing and bridging said side wallsya bottom wall extending forwardly from the vertical wall portion, and a front wall extending upwardly from the bottom Wall, the housing being provided with an opening located at the upper front portion betweenV the top and front walls, the opening being located above the step portion, and extending substantially the lentire width of the housing, a movable door for said opening, aV plurality of evaporator shelves disposed in said housing vertically above and spaced from said ledge portion of said step member, the shelves extending substantially the width of said housing between said opposed side walls and hence extending the entire length of the step member immediately above the ledge portion, and refn'gerating means including a cornpressor located in and below said step member, and operatively connected to said evaporator shelves, the ledge portion of said step member being adapted to support articles for refrigeration immediately below said evaporator shelves, and adapted to render the lower rear portion of said cabinet more readily accessible through the upper front opening, in addition to serving as a compressor enclosure.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,879,241 Hill Sept. 27, 1932 2,449,094 Wheeler Sept. 14, 1948 2,576,208 Benson Nov. V27, 1951 

